


12 Weeks

by womanaction



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 13:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11082531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/womanaction/pseuds/womanaction
Summary: An alternate summer spent by Annie and Abed between seasons 5 & 6.





	12 Weeks

**Author's Note:**

> This was partially inspired by Abed's comment in 6x1 about "how do any of us get our money, when will we get our degrees, and what happened to that girl I was dating?". Then it spiraled out of control.

“How has it been with just you and Abed all summer? What have you two been up to?”

“Um…”

* * *

It’s two weeks into summer.

Annie’s carefully checking and double-checking the grocery list. They have a little bit of a cushion, but not enough to go around buying whatever they want. She’s been thinking about finding a job for the summer, maybe at the library, but those first couple of weeks always seem to fly by. Maybe she’ll look when they get home.

Abed’s got some sort of programming project. She knows he doesn’t really enjoy it, but she also knows they need the money, so she hasn’t tried to talk him out of it. He’s been acting a little mysterious lately, anyway. A minute ago he had walked off without a word. Usually he’s so good at sticking to the list.

It’s one of the things she likes about shopping – and living – with Abed. Those first few weeks without Troy, his absence was glaring. The extra snacks he’d always sneaked into the apartment started to disappear. When both boys had been around, she had gone to the store by herself most of the time. Britta had made some comment about gender roles, and maybe that was part of it, but it was mostly because trying to get things done with Troy-and-Abed in tow was nearly impossible. They’d actually been banned from the grocery store closer to their apartment after a baguette light saber battle went sour. Abed is still trying to convince her to go back with him in disguise. She’s thinking about it. It _is_ a lot more convenient, and when else is she going to use that blonde wig?

After Troy left, Abed started coming with her every week. He had been quiet at first, but now they settled into an easy rhythm. She pushes the cart and he grabs the stuff from the tall shelves she couldn’t reach. On particularly good days, when she reads him the items he reads them back in imitation, each as a different character or celebrity. He always saves the most ridiculous for last, so that by the time they reach the checkout she’s collapsing in giggles.

He reappears, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a tub of ice cream in the other. Without any fanfare, he sets them delicately in the cart.

“Abed!” She’s surprised. They don’t usually keep alcohol in the house.

“I know it wasn’t on the list, but I saw an opportunity. I don’t know when I’m going to get dumped again.” He shrugs.

“Wait, what?”

He glances into the cart again. “I was a little torn between ice cream and chocolates. I thought I could throw them at the TV like Elle Woods in _Legally Blonde_ , but then I figured you probably wouldn’t like that very much. So I went with the more traditional choice.”

He misinterprets her stunned silence and continues, “I know it’s a female character trope, but when male characters get dumped they mostly go to smoky bars and brood for hours over a glass of whiskey. Whiskey tastes terrible and at the top of my game, I can’t brood for more than twenty minutes. Ice cream and romcoms are much more my speed.”

“Rachel dumped you?” she finally manages.

“Yeah, two days ago.”

“And I’m just finding this out _now_? In the _grocery store_?”

He blinks at her. Normally, Abed’s lack of affect is weirdly balancing, but right now she just wants to shake him until he displays some emotion. “I didn’t realize the location would be relevant.”

Annie is vaguely aware of people walking by uncomfortably, but it seems pretty unimportant compared to this revelation. “Abed! Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that?” she asks, voice reaching alarming levels of intensity.

He tilts his head, frowning. “Are you mad at me?” His dark eyes are full of concern.

She sighs and takes a step forward to slump her head on his chest. “I just want to help,” she says, muffled by his shirt. He pats her back awkwardly.

“You can help me tonight. I need someone to clink wine glasses with me and tell me I deserve better like we’re on Cougar Town. You can have some ice cream, too.”

Annie lifts up her head to look at him. “You _do_ deserve better, Abed!”

He smiles a little. “Yeah, just like that.”

“No, I – why did she dump you?”

“She’s transferring to City College,” he says without emotion. “She wants to graduate in a semester and doesn’t think she has time to see anybody. But I think the real reason is that she’s tired of our relationship. She said we’re too much alike.”

Annie frowns. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I thought so, too, but I think I’m beginning to understand. We like all the same things so we just talk about those things and we never do anything new. Our characters are redundant. She’ll be more successful in her spinoff.”

She’s watching him carefully for the traces of emotion he typically displays – a glance away suggesting he’s more upset than he shows, slight tension suggesting frustration – but he’s either hiding it exceptionally well or he’s actually okay. She takes his hand and squeezes it, just in case. “I will always be there to clink wine glasses,” she promises.

The corner of his mouth quirks up as he looks at her. “So what’s next?”

It takes her a second to realize he’s referring to the shopping list. She looks down, feeling oddly warm. “Oh! Um…macaroni.”

“Macaroni,” he says dramatically, staring into the distance. Abed puffs on an imaginary pipe then says it again, more slowly. “Mac-a-ro-ni.”

She elbows him. “Come on, Man of a Thousand Faces, your ice cream is melting.” She smiles as she says it, and she hopes he knows what she really means is “I like you the way that you are.”

* * *

It’s four weeks into the summer.

Annie’s working at the library. It’s less than thrilling, but it pays the bills and she can read forensics books when things are slow.

She’s in the middle of reading about a particularly interesting case when she hears footsteps and looks up, poised to greet the patron. “Abed,” she says, surprised. He hasn’t come to see her at work; in fact, she’s not sure he’s left the apartment without her in a couple of weeks, he’s been so buried in his work.

To someone who didn’t know him, he’d probably appear vaguely happy, but this is the closest she’s seen to Abed glowing. He’s practically vibrating with excitement, and she can’t help but feel a little excited too. “What’s going on?”

“I have something to show you,” he stage-whispers, holding up his laptop bag. She’s even more intrigued.

“Come with me,” she says out of the side of her mouth, slipping out from behind the desk. They’re silent until they reach Jack, the other library worker, who’s reshelving DVDs. “I can get those,” she tells him, batting her eyelashes for extra effect. He gives her an odd look but hands the stack over and walks back to the desk. Not missing a beat, Abed takes the laptop out and places it on the empty part of the shelf. He clicks something and she sees…a long stretch of code. “What is it?”

He brushes off the question. “Doesn’t matter, this isn’t what I wanted to show you. It’s who it’s for that matters.”

“Well, who’s it for?” she asks, putting _The Graduate_ and _Finding Nemo_ back on the shelf.

Abed gives her an almost rogueish grin and pulls up an email. “It’s a secret society of sorts. Their deal was if I could do some programming for them, they’d help me produce a movie. They’re paying me for the programming too. They have connections everywhere in the city, so getting locations won’t be a problem, and they’re willing to put a lot of money into it.”

“That’s amazing,” she breathes, scanning the email.

“That’s not what I wanted to show you either.” He leans in front of the laptop again. “They want final script approval.”

She raises her eyebrows, and he hastens to add, “This is a time for me to display some character development. My film career was unsuccessful after graduation because I couldn’t work with people, so this is a perfect opportunity to learn how. Last semester, you might remember that Hickey helped me rewrite my _Police Justice_ script.” He steps back and gestures.

“DETECTING THE FIFTH DIMENSION, by ABED NADIR and…ANNIE EDISON?”

“I was hoping you could lend some of your forensics knowledge.”

Impulsively, she throws her arms around him. He must have been anticipating it, because he hugs back immediately. She knows how much this means to him, and she can’t help but feel all bubbly and excited about it.

Someone clears their throat and they break apart immediately. Oh, God, of course. It’s the head librarian. Annie rarely sees her leave her office. “Miss Edison, you have other patrons needing attention besides your…” She eyes Abed speculatively. “Boyfriend.”

She blushes, but doesn’t have a chance to correct her because Abed speaks up immediately. “I’m sorry for distracting you. I actually do have some books I need to check out. I’ll just stay and work on things here until you’re finished and then we can go home together.”

The librarian gives her a look, but doesn’t say anything. Abed disappears into the stacks and Annie sheepishly returns to reshelving the DVDs. She can’t figure out why her heart seems to be pounding. Must be the excitement.

* * *

It’s six weeks into summer.

Annie’s pretending to watch the TV as she daydreams. It’s a little silly, but she has seen _The Breakfast Club_ about a thousand times and her mind keeps wandering. She imagines herself as a forensics expert at the FBI, looking sleek and grown-up in skirt-suits and cropped hair. (Abed had played a lot of _X-Files_ episodes for her when she first decided to study forensics.) Maybe she would fall in love with another agent. She tries to picture him, but has to settle for a tall, faceless stranger. With soft hands…and he must smell really good…

“Annie?”

“I…was paying attention!” she says quickly.

Abed blinks owlishly at her but doesn’t comment. “I need your help.”

“Is there a problem with the screenplay?” He’d seemed to like her forensics input when they finished the draft a couple of days ago.

“Sorta. They said they really liked it – the blend of humor, sci-fi, and noir – but that the romance aspect was lacking. The rest of it was unique but the love story seemed ‘generic,’ ‘inorganic,’ and ‘more like a rip off than a homage’ to the classics.” He sighs.

She thinks about reminding him that he’s been in a relationship much more recently than she has, but they haven’t even talked about Rachel since that Cougar Town night. Instead, she asks, “What did you have in mind?”

Abed shifts a little and for a second she could swear he looks uncomfortable. “I thought we could try a simulation. You’re good at that kind of thing.”

“In the mini-Dreamatorium?” she asks, too alarmed to respond to the compliment. The thought of running an explicitly romantic simulation with Abed in a dark refrigerator box barely big enough for them to fit is more than a little uncomfortable. Especially because he probably wouldn’t even notice or care, or he’d accuse her of starting a “kiss lean” again. Which is obviously so ridiculous, and it’s not like she cares if he notices her in that way. They’re roommates and best friends, not…whatever.

But it’s still weird.

“No, it’s too cramped,” he says, and she breathes a sigh of relief. “We’ll just have to use our imaginations.”

“Or…we could do it on location?”

His expression is blank.

“That first scene where Detective Monte meets the femme-fatale-slash-genius-physicist Leonora is in a bar, right? And then again in the hotel lobby…”

“A dark alley outside…”

“And the cab ride at the end of the movie.”

He nods thoughtfully. “You’re suggesting we re-enact all of their scenes. Improvise on-location.”

“It could be inspiring.”

“I could probably bill the cost of the drinks and the cab. And I do already have some costumes picked out.”

“Costumes?” She’s getting a little excited in spite of herself. Abed smiles warmly.

They walk a few blocks to the Grand Greendale Hotel. It’s a little rundown, but it’s period-appropriate, and it does have a bar. She wears her ballet flats, dangling the strappy heels from one hand as she walks; Abed slings his suit jacket over one shoulder in a concession to the summer heat. When she goes to walk in the door, he stops her. “Monte has already ordered his drink when he sees Leonora. You should wait outside for a couple of minutes.”

She nods, only a little annoyed, and tucks her flats into the small purse she’s holding. Annie tries to get into Leonora’s mindset – _gin martinis, subatomic particles, dangerous men_ – but finds herself wondering what Abed is doing. Slipping into character always seems so effortless to him. He’s probably already sipping on his drink and pondering the case like he didn’t write the ending to it. She wonders if he’s trying not to anticipate her coming in. The thought is oddly electric. She decides to take another minute.

When Annie absolutely can’t wait any longer, she strides in with as much easy sexuality as she can muster. She feels eyes on her as she walks into the nearly-empty bar, but she’s only looking for one man. _Detective Calder Monte_. He doesn’t know her, but he’s about to.

He’s still facing the bar, staring into his drink. She slides her hand along the back of his chair, brushing his back through his suit jacket. Without saying a word, she takes the seat next to him. Monte’s eyes on her are stricken and hungry, but when he speaks his voice is even. “What’ll it be, doll?”

“Gin martini,” she says breathily, not breaking his gaze. Then, realizing, she turns her head to address the actual bartender. “Um – gin martini.” He nods.

In an effort to slip back into character, her hand steals forward into Ab – _Monte’s_ jacket pocket. He doesn’t make any effort to stop her, just watches her with those ineffably deep eyes. Leonora’s breath catches in her throat, but she extracts the cigarette box. Her hands shake only slightly as she withdraws a cigarette and puts the box on the bar.

“Hey, no smoking in here, lady. There’s a sign.”

She ignores him and mimes lighting the cigarette. Monte tucks the box back into his jacket and sips his drink. “What’s a gal like you doing in a nice place like this?” he quips, eyes steely but obviously affected.

“You tell me, private dick.” She blows a ring of imaginary smoke and leans back in her chair. “I’ve been following your career, Monte. Best damn detective in Chicago kicked off the force for being too handsome. Starts working as a PI. After your first case, your partner mysteriously disappears.”

“You read the papers.”

“I read a lot of things. Including men,” she drawls, “And what I see in front of me is a man who’s in over his head. Even the sharpest detective isn’t a match for… _interdimensional wormholes._ ”

“What do you know about wormholes?” he asks, voice hushed. She pulls away, but he grabs her wrist. He’s surprisingly gentle for such a hard man. His thumb traces a little circle on the back of her hand and Annie – Leonora – tries not to shiver.

“I know things you couldn’t dream of, Detective Monte.” With her free hand, she lifts her martini to her mouth and downs it in a single gulp. She only coughs a little. “I have to go.”

“See you around, doll,” he says quietly, releasing her. She can feel his penetrating eyes follow her as she leaves the bar. They burn worse than the alcohol.

* * *

It’s eight weeks into summer.

Annie’s looking at her phone. Abed is on his laptop, in the recliner next to her. They’d received final approval on the script last week after two more trips to the hotel to hash things out. On the last trip, they ran into the Dean. It was weird. Since then, she’d barely seen Abed, but she had convinced him that since Saturday was her day off, he should take off from filming too. They could do something fun, she’d said. But now it was almost 1 and they still hadn’t left the apartment.

“Ugh, I’m bored,” she complains to nobody in particular.

Abed doesn’t look up. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. Something fun and summery. Like swimming, but we don’t have a pool. Or an ocean.”

“Jeff’s apartment complex has a pool.”

There’s a slight edge to Abed’s voice. Probably just frustration with whatever he’s working on. He needs to get out even more than she does. “Are you suggesting we con our way into Jeff’s complex?”

That gets him to look up. “Actually, I was just thinking you could text him. But I like your way better.” He closes his laptop. “Ten minutes?”

She looks really good in her purple bikini. She thinks about texting Jeff anyway, but she’s tried her best to banish those thoughts. She doesn’t want to spend yet another summer pining after him. He’s got her number too, after all.

She wonders suddenly where she’ll be next summer. If everything goes according to plan, she should have graduated again by then. For once, she doesn’t want to think about the future. Annie grabs her sunscreen and towel and slips her flip-flops on.

They leave the car in visitor parking and cut across the buildings so it looks like they’ve come from inside. When they reach the gate, Annie is all ready with a story (Jeff is her brother, he’s getting married, Abed is the best man here to surprise him a few days early with the bachelor party because he always comes to the pool for an after-work swim), but they don’t need it – a mildly creepy guy holds the door open for Annie and they’re in, no subterfuge required.

She exchanges a look with Abed and is glad to see her feelings of disappointment reflected on his face.

Annie stakes out a pair of pool chairs and starts to slather sunscreen on her legs. Abed says something about shooting locations and wanders off. She’s reached her exposed stomach when she feels a pair of eyes on her.

The creepy guy from earlier, of course. She keeps her eyes focused resolutely on the bottle of sunscreen as she applies it to her arms. Maybe if she doesn’t make eye contact, he’ll go away.

“Need some help with that?” No such luck.

She crosses her arms, blocking her chest from his view. “Nope, I’m good!” she replies with false cheer. Annie shields her eyes with one hand and looks around for Abed, trying her best not to appear desperate. He’s by the side of the pool, distracted, but she manages to catch his eye. “Honey!” she calls out, unnecessarily loudly. “Can you come here a sec?”

He’s by her side in an instant. Sometimes she forgets his natural athleticism, his lean body always swathed in cozy layers. It’s a little harder to forget when he’s in just a pair of swim tanks, she thinks, and hopes he’ll chalk her blush up to the heat. “What’s up?” he asks, tilting his head. He doesn’t look at Creepy Guy at all.

Annie rolls over and looks back at Abed over her shoulder. “Would you do my back, sweetie?” His eye flit to Creepy Guy now and he swallows, but otherwise betrays no emotion.

Feeling oddly voyeuristic - although she thinks it should be the other way around - she turns her head back. The towel is soft against her face. She can’t hear his movements or smell the sunscreen over the cacophony of sensations at the pool, but she feels his presence a minute distance from touching her. When his hands touch her back, spreading the cool lotion on her skin, she unconsciously lets out her breath. His touch is incredibly soft and gentle, and she squeezes her eyes closed, trying her best to block the unbidden memories rising up in her mind. Don Draper, Han Solo, Batman, and most recently, Calder Monte. There hadn’t been a kiss originally scripted between Leonora and Monte, but that last cab ride back…She shivers, and she’s not sure if it’s the memory of Monte’s touch or the reality of Abed’s.

“He’s gone now,” he says matter-of-factly, snapping her out of her trance. It’s all she can do to stay put as he removes his hands.

“But – I still need my back done,” she protests weakly, rolling back over.

Abed gives her a curious look. “Yeah, I finished. You should be safe for ninety minutes as long as you don’t go in the water for the next five. It’s on the bottle.”

“Thank you.”

He shrugs. “I guess you should have texted Jeff after all. You can use my phone if you want.”

“Why would I do that?” she asks, genuinely confused.

“I’m going to go in the water now.”

Obediently, Annie waits behind, letting the sunscreen permeate her skin. By the time five minutes are up, she’s starting to doze off a little, a combination of the delicious warmth of the sun and the phantom touches still tracing their way across her skin making her feel totally content.

When she wakes up, probably twenty minutes later, Abed is still in the water. She can barely see him; her chair is close to the shallow end, and apparently, a lot of people have brought their kids. She thinks about diving in, but then she has a better idea. Stealthily, she creeps down the side ladder and slides gracefully into the water. She sinks down and waits for him to swim by and then she pops out. He laughs.

“I thought you were still asleep.”

“I wouldn’t be a very good fake girlfriend, letting you have all the fun.” His smile fades a little, and she feels like she’s said the wrong thing but she doesn’t know how. That’s not an unfamiliar feeling with Abed, but she thought she was getting so much better at this. “What did you mean earlier, about Jeff?”

“It’s a classic romantic comedy scenario. I thought you’d want him to save you.” He looks surprised when she laughs.

“Abed, I don’t care,” she says honestly, still giggling a little. “How many ‘classic romantic comedy scenarios’ have Jeff and I acted out over the last five years?”

“Do you want an exact count?”

“And have any of them ever gone anywhere? No. Besides…” Annie tugs at a strand of wet hair. She’s not sure what’s taking her over, maybe the heat or chlorine fumes, but she can’t seem to stop herself. “I have fun with you. I like you saving me.” Her hand reaches out to his arm. It’s strange to see it bare, he’s so often in long sleeves. Her fingers trace an absent pattern. He doesn’t pull away. “There’s no one else I’d rather have as my fake boyfriend.”

Something seems to click for Abed when she says that and his demeanor changes. He leans in a little closer and when he speaks, his voice is a little lower. “In that case,” he informs her, “you should probably know that guy from earlier is watching you again.”

She doesn’t look. “What happens next in a classic romantic comedy scenario?” she asks, but he’s already slipping a hand under her chin and tilting her head up.

Annie used to – okay, sometimes still does read romance novels, and she’s always thought it’s a little funny when the women are described as quivering in anticipation for a kiss, their bosoms heaving. She’s historically been more of a fan of the kind of passionate romances where everything seems so urgent that there’s no time for that sort of buildup. Maybe it’s because she feels like most of her life has been buildup and she’s always waiting for the good stuff to start.

That said, her bosom is totally heaving.

When his lips finally touch hers, it’s so unexpected and different from their previous kisses. It’s almost tantalizingly slow and gentle, but when he draws away she’s gasping for air. She leans in again, capturing his lips and sliding a hand up his back. This isn’t the bombastic Han Solo kiss, and it’s not the cautious-yet-bruising kiss of Calder Monte either. This is pure Abed, or at least some version of him. It feels almost unreal.

When they finally break apart again, there are at least two moms glaring at them but Annie can’t care. Abed says something about drying off and she swims a few laps, hoping that if she moves quickly enough through the cool water it’ll be like a cold shower.

She feels tingly all over, and as much as she wants to stop and overanalyze, she thinks it’s probably better if she just enjoys the moment. Something is bugging her, though, something about Abed’s reaction when she called him her fake boyfriend.

By the time she gets out of the pool, she has a plan. He hands her the towel and she dries off quickly before tangling her hand in his. He follows silently.

They’re quiet in the car. She sneaks glances at him, wondering what he’s thinking, but he doesn’t give her any cues until she starts obviously deviating from the course. “Annie, this isn’t the way back to the apartment.”

“We’re not going back to the apartment.”

She parks in student parking even though she seriously doubts anyone is going to give her a ticket at Greendale on a Saturday in July. They walk wordlessly, hand in hand, until they reach the library and he hesitates. Annie looks back at him and the look in his eyes gives her brief pause. Then she remembers the talk they’d had a couple of years ago. “Winging it, remember?”

His expression clears.

The study room is empty and open, lonely without them. He lets her pull him inside and the door falls closed.

Now that they’re here, she feels a little awkward about the whole thing, but then he looks at her and tingles run up her spine again. She remembers the last few weeks and the last few months and the last few years and her resolve is strengthened. She threads her arms around his neck and just looks at him for a second. He puts his hands on her hips and it’s like they’re dancing.

She leans up and in and presses her lips to his decisively, one hand reaching up to tangle in his still-damp hair. As he responds, he pulls her even closer until they’re not so much kissing as embracing with their whole bodies.

“What did that mean?” he asks as their lips break apart. They’re still touching all over, his hands on her back and her hair, her hands framing his face.

“You tell me. Analyze it.”

He frowns. “If we were in a movie…I would say that intentionally kissing in a place that represents both safety and the norms that might stand as obstacles would represent a commitment. That it’s real and not merely the product of characters or hormones or too much free time over the holiday.”

She bites her lips and nods. Abed seems to search her eyes, looking for some sort of cue that he can recognize. Whatever he finds must satisfy him, because he says, “I’d like to kiss you again.”

Her hands wrap back around his neck as they kiss and she wishes vaguely that he hadn’t put his shirt back on. This kiss is more passionate, but not urgent. It feels like slowly stoking a fire. He opens his mouth a little and she takes the invitation as she lets him walk her backwards toward the table. After a tiny amount of maneuvering she’s seated comfortably and she finds herself wrapping her legs around him and trying to pull him down with her. He breaks away after giving her one last hard kiss. “I can’t stop thinking about Jeff and Britta having sex on this table,” he says by way of apology. “It’s kind of killing the mood.”

Annie draws back automatically. “Ew, yeah. Good point.”

They look at each other for a second and she feels her face split into a smile. Abed gives her one in response, and she feels just as warm and tingly as she did from all the kissing. “Let’s go home,” says one of them, and the other agrees.

* * *

It’s two weeks before classes start back.

Annie’s having her annual pre-semester life reorganization. That’s what she calls it, but she imagines if more of the group had ever witnessed it they’d have some less polite names. Like “freak-out” (Troy) or “demon possession” (Shirley) or “going batshit crazy” (Pierce, R.I.P.). Even last year she’d made an effort to hide it from the others and holed herself up in her room for a couple days.

But now it’s just her and Abed here and they’re…whatever they are. They haven’t talked about it since that day at the pool two weeks ago, but they’ve slipped into a comfortable rhythm. He comes to see her about an hour before she gets off work and they leave together. Sometimes they pick up food; other times they come home and cook. They watch a movie in the early evening and then Abed has to leave, since noir uses night-for-night (his words). She spends that time working on things for the semester and her future, looking up internships and reading whatever she can get her hands on. It’s not a substitute for formal education, but at Greendale, as the Dean puts it, “even our formals are informal.” She saves her notes, thinking maybe she can get a paper out of it for an independent study credit in the fall. When he comes back, it’s often pretty late, but she always stays up to wish him goodnight.

They kiss, often. They hold hands, but that’s nothing new. They haven’t gone further than that. She hopes it’s just due to scheduling conflicts.

Anyway, now that they’re…a thing, whatever that means for them, she doesn’t feel like she needs to hide it from him. Plus, if anybody will understand her “control freak meltdowns” (Jeff), it’s Abed.

He finds her crying in front of her closet. It’s 10 a.m., she doesn’t have work today, and she’s still in her pajamas. Immediately, he sits on the floor next to her. “What’s wrong?”

“All of my clothes are little girl clothes,” she says through sniffles. “What if they never take me seriously?”

He looks at her for a moment and then hesitantly takes her hand. “Annie, you have half-a-dozen blazers and five different pencil skirts. There are two pairs of slacks in there that I haven’t even seen you wear.”

“They make my butt look weird,” she mumbles quietly.

“You’re still a college student. Even the FBI isn’t going to expect you to be a fully-formed forensics expert, and your talent will impress them much more than your clothes.”

She blushes. “How did you know I was looking at FBI internships?”

“You left an _X-Files_ DVD in the player,” he responds matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” Sometimes she needed a little inspiration.

“Would it make you feel better if we go shopping?”

Annie brightens, and somewhere in her brain Britta is disappointed with her for incorporating consumerism into her “radical restatement of feminine power.” “I do need new highlighters, too, and the OfficeMax is over there. Not that my self-worth is tied to highlighters or anything.”

“And you might want a new dress for the wrap party next week.”

“The wrap party is next week? And I’m invited?”

He gives her his best “duh-doy” look, but she just giggles, suddenly excited. That gives her something to focus on that isn’t school and the future. Plus…”We’ll go together, right?”

“Of course. Oh, you mean as a date? Also yes. If you want to, that is.” In response, she pecks him on the lips. He surprises her by continuing the kiss gently but firmly, cupping her face with both hands. She sighs a little into his mouth. “That’s a yes, right?”

“Right.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool.”

They’re at the food court, shopping bags draped over extra chairs, when a very familiar voice chimes out, “Abed! Annie! What a surprise!” The dean strides over to them and puts his hands on his hips. “Is this another one of your little not-dates? Don’t get me wrong, we’ve _all_ been there, and by there I mean wrapped up in each other’s arms in the middle of the night at a hotel that’s seen better days, swearing up and down that it’s not what it looks like. I’m not coming from a place of judgment, I just hope you two kids have figured things out.”

“Actually…”

“We have,” Abed continues for her. “We’re together now.”

She looks at him, pleased.

The dean claps his hands together. “Color me incre- _dean_ -bly excited for you. Do the, ahem, others know?”

She knows he’s really asking if Jeff knows. “No,” Annie says firmly. “And you’re not going to tell them, unless you want me to contact City College with what I know about you.”

“Annie’s going into the FBI,” Abed adds helpfully.

The dean puts his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Sheesh, okay, we’ve got a power couple over here!” He laughs. “You kids have fun and don’t keep it a secret too long. Also,” he lowers his voice. “If you film any more ‘movies,’ just be careful and don’t let Chang near your computer. I’ve been burned before.”

“It wasn’t like that!” Annie protests, but he’s already walking away.

She feels Abed looking at her, but when she turns she can’t read his expression. She wonders if this is how he feels. “What?” she asks, when she can’t take it anymore.

The corner of his mouth curls up a little bit and his eyes are warm, but he doesn’t answer her question. “You still need highlighters.”

When they’re walking out of OfficeMax, laden with Annie’s purchases, she sighs and puts her head on his shoulder. “You’ve run the simulations. I’m going to be okay, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re going to be okay,” she says firmly.

After a second, he says, “Yeah.”

“We’re going to be okay.”

He brushes his lips against the corner of her forehead. “Yeah.” 

* * *

It’s one week before classes start back.

Annie’s getting ready for the wrap party. She’s barely seen Abed this past week, but things have been different. Maybe it was labeling their relationship, even if it was just to Dean Pelton. She’s quit her job at the library, so she’s had a lot of free time to think, fantasize, and try to tamp down her anxiety. Whenever they have a chance to see each other, it’s almost urgent, magnetic, like they’re hurtling toward something more in these last few days of summer. This morning she kissed a line down his neck before he left. He didn’t make a noise, but she could see the tension in his jaw and feel his fingers flex against her skin.

She wonders if they’ll have sex before the summer ends. She’s been wondering that a lot lately. It almost seems like a good decision. Their relationship is still uncertain and fragile, and she has a hard time imagining them coming back from study group to do _that_ for the first time, but she can easily imagine them doing it when it’s just them in their little world. Nobody to interrupt, either actually or mentally.

She wonders if they’ll have sex tonight. She puts on nice lingerie under her dress, just in case. Not that she’s going to seduce him, although part of her wonders why not. She wants to, and they’re together, after all. Maybe she will seduce him tonight.

The party is fun enough to take her mind off her plans. Abed seems the most comfortable she’s seen him at this kind of thing, although he still stands a bit apart. The actors and crew seem admiring, even if she can hear their frustration in recounting certain stories from the shoot. They’re all excited to meet her as the co-screenwriter. “I’m also his girlfriend,” she finds herself saying over and over again. It feels pretty good, even if she gets some looks of surprise. Abed is the perfect gentleman, getting her drinks and introducing her to the shrouded Skype figures of the secret society representatives. They’re enthusiastic about her script contributions and one of them even offers to help her get a job in local law enforcement to further her career. She thanks them and turns it down as cordially as possible.

Everybody is starting to get pretty drunk. She’s only had a couple drinks herself, not enough to make her drunk but just enough to make her a little bolder. She leans in to Abed, lips brushing his ear. “You want to get out of here?”

He looks at her, obviously surprised, but he sets his own drink down and nods. They’ve barely stopped holding hands all night so it’s not hard to drag him through the party and over to the car. They barely make it inside before she’s pulling him to her and kissing him breathlessly. His thumb traces the side of her face so tenderly, but she wants more. When his tongue slips into her mouth, she moans a little and he draws back to look at her.

She flushes under his observant gaze. “I was planning on being a little more subtle with seducing you,” she confesses.

“You were going to seduce me?” he asks, studying her. Annie nods. He kisses her, slowly and with almost measured sloppiness. When he pulls away, he looks at her face again and seems to like what he sees. “The apartment would probably be a more comfortable location.”

“Right,” she says, barely able to hear her own voice over the blood pounding in her head. Her hands shake a little as she turns the key. He gives her an intimate little smile and she bites her lip.

She spends the car ride wondering what he thinks, if he even wants this like she does. She shouldn’t worry. They’re just inside the apartment when his lips are on hers again, pressing her against the door. He copies her actions from this morning, tracing his mouth down her neck, and her knees go weak. He pulls back to admire his handiwork, the flush she knows has spread itself over her chest. His fingers move across her collarbone. “I want to see.”

“What?” She barely manages to find her voice.

“Your seduction.”

“You remember that scene we decided to leave out, where Monte walks into the hotel room and Leonora’s sitting on his bed in lingerie?”

“I remember,” and maybe she’s imagining it but there’s a little tremble in his normally steady voice. “What lingerie?”

“Why don’t you find out?” she dares, half-Leonora, half-Annie. He gives her that kind of wondrous smile that’s all Abed.

When he follows her into the bedroom, she feels a rush of something that might almost be love.

* * *

It’s the day before classes start.

Annie’s still in bed when her phone rings. She’s almost tempted not to pick up, but the Caller ID says it’s Britta, and she’s never up this early.

“Hello?”

“Annie! Hey, how are you?”

“I’m good, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

Abed sits up and tilts his head, asking a question silently. She covers up the receiver and says, “Britta.” He nods and then points to the phone and raises his eyebrows. She hits the speakerphone button and Britta’s sigh echoes in the bedroom.

“I’m fine, I just…The Man, you know?”

“Yeah,” Annie says unconvincingly.

“But enough about me. How has it been with just you and Abed all summer? What have you two been up to?”

“Um…” She steals a glance at him, trying not to laugh. “Not much. You know, the usual Annie-and-Abed stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Britta says distractedly. “I actually…I need to ask you a favor. I kind of need a place to crash. Tonight. Or actually, right now would be great because I haven’t slept yet.”

She shares a look with Abed. She can almost predict what he’d say: something about some sitcom episode (maybe _Friends_? Monica and Chandler?) where they had to cleanse the living area of any hint that they’re sleeping together only for the friend to find out the truth anyway. It could be fun.

Or they could save the hijinks for the school year. “Oh. Yeah. That’s fine, but in that case, there’s something you should know…”


End file.
